under: EduThoughts
Author Archive
mkrstovic
I am a Science/Chemistry teacher in Ontario interested in improving my instruction through action research and modernization of instructional methods. I am also interested in 21st century schools, how education is changing to fit the changing world and how teachers become the agents of this change.
An aspect of science inquiry that often does not receive enough attention in high school science is use of correlational studies — as opposed to experiments — for attempting to understand phenomena in nature. Correlational studies are inquiries in which investigators try to find relationships between variables that change naturally. Experiments, on the other hand, [...]
under: Educational Activism
I have been looking at some photos recently while trying to clean out my external drive. I came across two photos that I took when I was mentoring a Grade 8 student from Appleby College a few years ago. The photos of two mind maps illustrating the Fluids unit reminded me of how engaging the [...]
under: Instructional Intelligence
Recently I volunteered to do a presentation to interested staff members at my school on Digital Activism during our upcoming PD day in March. I have been inspired by the latest global events such as the recent reform and revolution in the Middle East and the Occupy movement directed against economic and social inequalities. I [...]
under: Educational Activism
A few days ago I talked to my Grade 12 students about the quantum model of an atom. Anyone who has studied the quantum model will tell you that this stuff is very abstract. How do we visualize atoms and the subatomic particles? What is an electron and how does it really behave? How do [...]
My students felt that they were learning more ‘things’ that would make them ‘street-smart’ rather than ‘book-smart’ while learning about activism and developing actions on issues that affect the wellbeing of individuals, societies and environments. This was concluded after a group of five student volunteers agreed to be interviewed by Prof Larry Bencze (from OISE) [...]
under: EduThoughts
Using smart phones in class to take photos of celery cells through the microscope
Posted by: mkrstovic | December 13, 2011 | No Comment |It was an exciting moment in class today when one of my Grade 10 students took an incredible photo of the celery cells that were stained with a blue dye. He said: “Sir, look! It looks like an image from Avatar movie!” Then Randy (not his real name) zoomed further into the photo of a [...]
under: Instructional Technology
This semester I have been working on implementing the STEPWISE framework in my Grade 10 Science. In light of this innovation, I’d like to review several stages of staff concern about an innovation based on the Concern-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) by Hall, Wallace and Dosset (1973). Here they are: Awareness. The science staff becomes aware [...]
Science Activism: Sample of a STSE Action Project
Posted by: mkrstovic | November 23, 2011 | No Comment |I have been writing about STSE (Science, Technology, Society and Environment) action projects and my attempt to implement the STEPWISE framework in the last several posts. As a reminder, the STEPWISE framework is designed to help students explore various socio-scientific issues by carrying out secondary and primary research and to use their research to inform [...]
under: Educational Activism
About a year ago I wrote a post on Critical Thinking and Student Engagement. In that post, I reviewed some data on student engagement. I don’t know the author of that study (I’ll try to find out), but this is what’s suggested: Students in arts and tech classes were more engaged than students in ‘academic’ [...]
under: EduThoughts
